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NitroSecurity, Inc., the leader in high-performance, industrial control system security information and event management (SIEM) solutions, today announced new product capabilities to manage the unique security imperatives associated with Smart Grid deployments.

NitroSecurity’s NitroView is already the only SIEM capable of providing real-time visibility across both the business and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks within energy utilities. The new version includes additional support for the specific devices, protocols and applications in intelligent distribution and metering, and expanded capabilities to collect and analyse the extreme breadth and volume of Smart Grid data.

“The Smart Grid represents a real security challenge and very much mirrors the evolution of the World Wide Web,” said Bob Lockhart, Senior Analyst at Pike Research. “It is a highly intelligent and flexible infrastructure model that allows unprecedented communication between, and control of, a variety of systems. However, it is also a network that could potentially expose critical systems without sufficient security controls in place. Obtaining situational awareness can be a key enabler, and that means monitoring the real-time measurement and distribution infrastructure, the advanced metering infrastructure, and even the meters themselves.”

Smart Meters and other connected systems represent an exponential increase in endpoints – and associated data – that require monitoring by a platform that can scale and process this massive volume. NitroView is the only SIEM with the performance and scale to monitor all three layers of energy networks – business, SCADA and Smart Grid. Specifically, NitroView V8.5 includes:

• Support for the unique identifiers and addresses used in the Smart Grid, such as the Electronic Serial Numbers (ESNs) used in advanced meters.
• Direct log and event collection from leading Smart Grid devices, including meters and metering systems providing centralised log collection and analysis for true situational awareness.
• Support for specialised industrial security devices from Secure Crossing, Byres Security and others to support direct security monitoring within the transmission and distribution infrastructure.
• Direct monitoring support for both industrial and enterprise network protocols within NitroView ADM and NitroGuard IPS to provide security at the demarcation between the Smart Grid and enterprise business networks.
• Expanded NitroView Receiver collection capabilities to support the hundreds of thousands of monitored meters and other devices in a Smart Grid.

While the Smart Grid presents tremendous opportunities for new service creation, cost control and environmental concerns, this new intelligence is a massive increase in complexity and vulnerability, dissolving the power generation infrastructure’s closed “perimeter.” Everything from Smart Meters to Smart Grid billing systems are potential intrusion vectors through which attackers could access SCADA controls, financial systems, customer records and even external business networks. Most Smart Grid elements were not built with direct security threats in mind, requiring external security devices to be added or created specifically for this new challenge.

“With founders from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, NitroSecurity has extensive experience with critical infrastructures in the energy sector – from oil and natural gas, to nuclear facilities, to electrical generation and distribution,” said Eric Knapp, Director of Critical Infrastructure Markets for NitroSecurity. “Traditionally, the energy infrastructure’s greatest defense was its obscurity and isolation in terms of systems and protocols, and yet we’ve seen those systems come under direct attack as they become more connected. The Smart Grid is neither obscure nor isolated. The industry needs to move quickly to establish security intelligence for the Smart Grid, because the threat is real.”

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